Testify/testicle

[Justin]

In the OT there are a few verses that state how a man will reach in under another man's leg when he testified to something that is true. I have read that what this means is the first man grabs the second man's testicles as he swears his oath, and that this is how the word "testify" came into being. Anyone know anymore on this?

 

Bizarre either way...

[pitchu]

http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/01/too...ches-sometimes/

 

I long thought that testimony and related words were derived from Latin testis “testicle,” which came from the ancient practice of swearing by that which is most sacred to a man, his power of conceiving life. (Cf. Genesis, where Abraham makes Eliezer swear to him by putting his hand on his thigh, either because it is close to his genitalia, or thigh standing as a euphemism for the genitalia themselves [note, the JST in a further euphemizing change emended thigh to hand, sort of a cultural translation to a more modern shaking of hands concept].)

 

It is true that this is a popular etymology (I certainly didn’t make it up). But a few years ago I learned that most linguists reject this etymology of this group of English words.  Words like testify and testes are still related, but in a more complicated way than I had thought.

 

The Latin word testis “witness” derives from Indo-European roots tre- “three” and sta- “to stand,” because a witness was a “third person standing by” in litigation (the plaintiff and defendant being the first two). So testis means “witness,” testimonium means “evidence,” testificare means “to bear witness,” testari means “to be a witness,” and testament means “covenant.”

 

Now, it is true that testis also came to bear the meaning “testicle.” Â Our English word derives from the Latin diminutive form testiculus, a development that can be traced to about the 14th century. How did that come about?

 

Well, a word for “witness” in Greek was parastates, lit. “one who stands alongside.”  As it so happens, when used in the dual number (many languages in addition to a singular and a plural number have a dual, usually used for things that normally come in pairs, like hands and feet) that word also meant “testicles,” apparently from the sense of two glands standing alongside each other. It appears that both senses of the word (the original sense of “witness” and the developed sense of “testicles”) were represented in Latin by the same word, testis.

 

So, while our “testimony” meeting is indeed related to the word testes, it is in a far less direct way than I once had supposed.

 

These and other similar experiences explain why I personally am an advocate of intellectual and scholarly humility. I am painfully aware of just how wrong I can be, and taking too premature and too dogmatic a stance on some topic has the very real potential of coming back to bite me in the tuckus.

[Crazycatlady]

Interesting idea. I checked the OED, Merriam Webster, and "entomologyonline" (Harper, only has a BA though). Both words come from the Latin "testis" which meant witness or testis. Harper offers a possible explanation for the double meaning of testis:

"from L. testis "testicle," usually regarded as a special application of testis "witness" (see testament), presumably because it "bears witness" to virility"

[Dhampir]

There was some DUMBASS ultra-feminazi here a few years ago, offering her "gynimony", as she couldn't offer a testimony for lack of testicles.

[orlando]

There was some DUMBASS ultra-feminazi here a few years ago, offering her "gynimony", as she couldn't offer a testimony for lack of testicles.

 

the kind of person who would insist on referring to "HERstory" as though the word history merely means "his story" as opposed to coming from the French world "histoire" (which just means story or history)...

[Jack]

I was told this as a Christian, by Christians, so I can hardly vouch for its accuracy. Supposedly, In Biblical Times, you know, in That Biblical Place, the way trials and such worked was that you testified to your innocence (if indeed you thought you were innocent) and witnesses also testified. The defendant found guilty and his witnesses would lose their testicles.

 

But it probably is just some symbolic and etymologic thing.

[gypsy79]

I'm having a hard time concentrating on the original post due to vivid brain imagery.

[Justin]

Thanks everyone for your replies. So, in the OT when a man places his hand on another's thigh, is this meaning he is grabbing his testicle? Even if the man is merely touching his thigh, that is a little odd to be in a perfect rule book layed out by a perfect god.

[Jeff H]

Thanks everyone for your replies. So, in the OT when a man places his hand on another's thigh, is this meaning he is grabbing his testicle?

No no, it just means he's gay